


a battle cry, a symphony

by My_King_And_Your_Lionheart



Series: Keith Genuary 2019 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkwardness, Nightmares, The whole she tried to kill him thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-10 10:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart/pseuds/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart
Summary: Keith is happy for Zethrid and Ezor, really, but could they just be happy far, far away from him?





	a battle cry, a symphony

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly the first week of hell year absolutely kicked my ass so i've fallen extremely behind, but over the course of this week, now that I'm vaguely ahead of the work, i'd like to catch up. hopefully. pray for me.
> 
> Anyway, title is from Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine
> 
> Enjoy!

The most awkward day of Keith’s life comes when he stumbles into the training deck at 3am only to find it occupied. Occupied, frankly, by the absolute last people Keith wants to see after the nightmare he’d had. Already thin air choked with smoke, doing his best but it not being enough, helpless to do anything to protect his team on a hostile planet.

Keith gets that Zethrid and Ezor are a thing. He didn’t get it until Zethrid was holding a gun to his head, but he does now. It doesn’t really make it easier to see them together, knowing now that they won’t hurt him. He tries his best to just slowly back out of the training deck, deciding to go to the kitchens and make hot chocolate or something, but it’s too late. Ezor has spotted him and is waving. He waves back, staying still. Maybe he can still leave without drawing too much attention to himself.

“Paladin!” Oh, no, that’s Zethrid, and Keith flinches away from the noise. He refocuses on the larger woman and realizes that he is so not ready for this. He runs. He makes his way out of the training deck, past the living quarters, past the kitchens, and corners himself in the observation deck. He made a wrong turn, somewhere, meant to make his way to the flight bays, but his breath is coming too fast and there’s someone behind him-

He turns, lashing out with his luxite blade. There’s no one there. Keith spins around in a circle, eyes darting around the room, but the shadows don’t move. He tries to slow his breathing, but each pull feels thin, and he can’t find the calm he needs. He’s alone. There’s no one there.

The door opens. He can make out a willowy silhouette against the incoming light, but it’s not one he’s particularly familiar with. He keeps his sword up, and the figure doesn’t make any move to come closer. Keith’s brain is still being pulled in all directions, but there’s one part telling him he doesn’t need to be scared of this one. This one hasn’t hurt him in a long time.

“Keith, right?” The question pulls Keith back into the present. It’s Ezor, and Keith lets his sword retract into a knife. Still a weapon, but less outwardly threatening. “Are you okay?” Keith swallows. It scratches in his throat.

“I’ve been better.” His tone, thank God, is measured and steady; he thinks it might break him to show weakness in front of this alien. He’s still looking for a way out, and what bad planning, honestly, that there’s only one way in and out of this room. Ezor takes a step inside and it takes everything Keith has to not step backward.

“We wanted to make sure you were okay. It seemed like you were scared, a little bit ago.” _We._ That small word makes Keith focus on Zethrid again, and that’s not something he can deal with right now, to be honest.

“I’m fine. You can go, now.” And he might be being rude, but fuck it, he wants out of here. Nightmares are one thing but being followed by the beings who hurt him is another. Ezor doesn’t move.

“She won’t hurt you, you know.” There’s no point asking who Exor is talking about. They both know Keith knows.

“I know.” Ezor waits.

“She’s better, now.” _With me_ , she doesn’t say. Keith would like to be happy for them, but it almost took his death for that to happen, so he’s not, really. “I promise she’s actually pretty friendly.” Keith gives one slow nod, but nothing else. “I’ll just go now, I guess.” She leaves. Keith gives it five minutes, and then follows her.

He makes his way through the Atlas, past the kitchen, taking the long way around to his quarters, avoiding the training deck and passing the armory and the indoor farming station before finally rounding the corner to the residence halls. There was someone outside his door.

“Paladin.” Keith stops where he is. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? He hadn’t done anything to offend them, he thought, as he mostly made sure they saw neither head nor tail of him since they’d all gotten to Earth.

“Whatever it is you came here to say, could it wait until the morning?” Zethrid shifted where she stood, bristling. Some animal part of Keith’s brain wanted to run and hide, but he was mostly just tired.

“I am here to apologize. I did not realize that my presence made you uncomfortable.” And Keith would bet that she wouldn’t have noticed without Ezor at her side, but he decided that was neither here nor there.

“It’s fine, Zethrid. It happened. We’re past it.” Zethrid moved toward him, but he backed up faster than she could approach.

“It seems you are not.” Keith rubbed his hand over his face. How could he say this nicely?

“You tried to kill me. As many times as other people have tried to do that, I’m still not totally used to it. There.” Zethrid crossed her arms in front of her chest, and scanned Keith head to toe.

“You saved my life. I’ll never raise a hand against you, because it would betray my life debt. So stop your worrying and go to sleep.” She turned on her heel and left.

“I’ve been trying to, thanks.” Keith entered his room. He had to be up in three hours. He prayed he wouldn’t see Zethrid or Ezor.


End file.
